Ethiocross Blog

Thank you. I agree in your comments ,a wise comment .Please let's respect each other . We are one in christ!

Dear Br.Tesfaye; God bless you!

It is this kind of Spirit that we most need.

All glory be to God!

I’ve read brother Tesfaye Getahun’s article. Obviously, and as he said, his article is on his assumption. Why we are very sensitive when we read or hear the truth? On the other hand, why the churches’ problem should be a secret?

“Don’t touch them”, “respect them”, “they are this and that”, “they did this and that”;on top of that, we have tons of verses from the bible to support our ‘opinion’ and ‘assumption’. Are we really concern for the House of the Lord? Are we seeing or examining ourselves according to the bible? Don’t take me wrong; I’ve a respect for these pastors and brothers, however, let’s talk & discuss the truth, let’s try to correct the mistakes, let’s talk openly although our culture doesn’t allow us, let’s discuss on this kind of ‘sensitive’ issues openly. Unfortunately, our culture has taught us to talk behind someone’s back, so when we read an article like brother Paulos Fekadu’s, we get emotional and getting defensive. Honestly, I don’t see any problem or exaggeration, or disrespecting… in his article.

Please don’t be an attorney for someone else because you have a good relationship with them. Let their jobs reveal the truth. Let them talk about themselves. I think we’re confusing them. Let them see themselves.

God bless you Brother Tesfaye for your Godly advice,The church must stand in one accord and focus on the current issue with unity. For those writers before you Jump on our front fathers and Elders,I have one big question What you will gain when you wound the Body of Christ? You must know you are spreading devision,hate..rather than unity please lets examine our motive???Are we Happy in other people pain? IF The apostlic issue is not a doctrinal problem for today's church,lets turn our face to the cross.

the verse that Tesfaye shows us from the bible is really indicates how tesfaye misunderstand the scriptire. that particular verse has nothing to do about what we are talking about. the verse talks about the young pastor timoty how should minster older people in the church. in our case many of us saying that evalute ourself about what we are doing as a leader. most of us we love these leaders as tesfaye love them, however we love to see them on the right way the bible told us to do. tesfay we also need to Love Jesus too.

What a bright attitude!I appreciate the way you conduct your points without offending anyone in your writings. While sharing ideas and thoughts encouraged, as a Christian, passing judgment on and criticizing each other should be discourage. There is no one perfect. As we grow to look like Christ supposedly, we all have many ups and downs. It is everyone’s responsibility to watch one after another, not pointing at each other. That is what Christ expects us to do. Correcting when mistakes are made by one is reasonable, but one needs to know how. Otherwise more damage can be committed than what was thought wrong doing at first if we are not careful.

keep up the good work Ethiocross!

God Bless!

Greetings in Jesus name.
Tesfaye I thank you for your honesty that you put your own view about these people.But the fact is very different from your understanding and as one brother mentioned above you misunderstand the topic and the Bible verse you quote here.
The bibical crticism on those brothers was pefectly presented by paul that these people are self appointed and cooperative guys for their fame hile the bible shows us that the true belivers and the leaders like Pauld condemn themselves and ended their life in sacrifice.
Long time ago Melesse Wogu was critical about such people on his books and teachings that the teaching of those people was totally influenced by the new cult of prosperity gospel and the alike are now disgracing the evangelicals in America like Jim Baker and now the Benhyn /Kennet Hagen groups.
I urge every one to imitate our Lord and His true followers who never worked for their fame but gave their life for the salvation of many.No prophet pr early church saint lived luxurious life in the most expensive suites but in simple huse rented by fellow brothers and sisters like Paul.
For the sake of the golden evangelical purity that we saw when we were young, let us turn back to the cross/Meskel centered chrstianity instead of such worldly pattern by the name of Jesus.
Meskelu

bless u bro

Brother Tesfaye,

You are not alone. My heart goes out to the leaders too. We have to bless the Lord for Paulos despite his lack of "diplomacy". May be he is not well trained or traditioned to hide the truth like most of us. He is simply speaking the truth as best as he knows how. To demean, degrade or disqualify him from the rank of the others we deify or venerate is sin unto itself. We have to be like children, not despise them. The young man may be young in his walk with the Lord also. He should be given a chance to utter his questions and receive appropriate answer. Hiding the falacy and failure behind old age is not helping anyone. It is better to die with dignity than live with guilt and remorse. Longevity in ministry should not cover their the woes they are inplanting in the church today. I do not think you see the gravity of the the issue here. Like Paulos I have no personal grudge or any negative feeling toward them as brothers. But because I care for them and the church for generations to come, I know I have to speak the truth. I could hide my head in the sand but I fear God and His love compells me to go against my ego. I cannot say 'min agebagn' and keep my cool. That is the flesh. God will hold you responsible for what you know and what you did with the truth He revealed. It is ungodly to be quiet when you know the answer to the troubled water. That is immoral.

Honoring and respecting elders is godly, no doubt about it. But, how can one be a by-stander when the very foundation of your anchor is being erroded. We are loud and clear that men ought not be called, perfect and be crowned or ordained like Melkessedik. It is unbiblical and a serious error. Period. That is that simple. But, can we swallow our pride and accept our fault. Prideful "wonne" will not let us say, "we are sorry". You do not need to put words they cannot chew in their mouth. They are matrure ministers and they know what they are after. As much as many have been blessed, many others have been hurt by them. These are public figures and we should talk loud about them because they are our role models. Does their life manifest Christ? Do they preach Christ and His old Cross or promote themselves? They command respect and honor from their humility, not sending fear and curse, "if you don't accept this, you will...." We are all saints just as they are. I differ from your pastor in that sanctification (sainthood) is past, present and future, not just progressive. It is also done deal. I am a saved saint. Paul often addresses his audience 'saints' in the epistles. Peter also confirms our sainthood (1Pt. 2:9) in Christ. May be the pastor did not have much time to explain. But, I appreciate your diligence. If the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed. Amen.

Fathers need other fathers; brothers need other brothers. Iron sharpens iron. These brothers need correction. There are many fathers of their stature in Ethiopia who endured suffering and pain when these fled the persecution, whether through 'Bole or Bale'. They are my heroes. I am not judgemental here. May be their life was in line, like mine. May be the Lord preserved us "for such a time like this".

Our brothers defiled the "tabot". They must repent for the good of the church; othewise, they are leaving a legacy of controversy and chaos in the church they have loved so much and given their life for. I am for them. I am not in any way or form against them. I believe none of their challengers here are against them personally but their doctrine and practice which is totally unbiblical. Judging, yes I am judging sin, not the sinner. Otherwise, I cannot preach the gospel. "Judge not" is not meant for sin but for the sinner. We are all sinner. We judge our sin and come to Christ as sinners. Our judging helps us to stay away from sin but close to the Final and Supreme Judge. Again, we are not judging our brothers but their action, whatever their motive might have been. You try to explain away their motive but are you not like me, mere man? Christ is their Advocate Supreme. We all know that. This is not about taking sides on the side of mere men. It is about the truth. Be on the side of the truth, my dear brother. I would be hurting them if I do not tell them they wrong this time!!!

Your argument is adorned with "aymeslegnim". Who else can tell except themselves and God? Minimizing the issue does not help either. You are adding flame to the fire by minimizing and sugar-coating their words and actions. We all have sinned by our silence, to say the least.

To my younger generation, this is not about your youth or generation. The gospel transcends all generations. Its purity has to be maintained. You should learn from abatoch's arguments, not resent or resist it. In due time God will use you mightily, if you stay humble. There is nothing bad about asking questions, like young Paulos (I am not sure how young he is). Please, do not demonize Paulos. His questions are legitimate and merit biblical or doctrinal answer.

As, Dr. Tolosa said the church can ordain any one anytime and anyway it deems necessary. May be, apointing or recognizing the apostleship may be part of the church's doctrine of church polity. If so, that is fine. The church know what it is doing, I hope. If the idea came from a Canadian minister, well, he should confer the authority or apprecaition there in Canada or he should be there to witness the ordination. Is Rev. Daniel's church affiliated to the Canadian denomination? I am dumbfounded again? Am I to believe that "they did it just because they could?" Please, repent and let us get over with it or prove to us that you are biblical. We need biblical explanation, not just procedural report of the "simet".

May God have mercy on us all.

In His Care,

SWF

I am totaly agree with Fatuma, God bless you.

GOOD JOB ! BROTHER TESFAYE ,GOD BLESS YOU AND I AGREE IN YOUR COMMENT..... Brother Paulos, We Love You but THINK TWICE BEFORE ........

Dear brother Tesfaye,

I have read your “enien endemeselenge” article with enthusiasm at first. But, when I reached to the middle I was not sure what you were trying to communicate (it is so subtle that it passively antagonizes those who oppose). You started out by asking a rhetorical question for the fact that all these critical comments would have been beneficial if they were forwarded before the “simet”. It is obvious that what triggered all this comments and outcries were the reason for and the content of the ordination. It is unfair to expect Paulose or anyone to tackle this issue before it actually happened. No one knows what is in their hearts but God.

Several times you mentioned the word “ayimesilegnem,” and my question to you is how do you know their hearts? You said that those fathers were not ambitious to be called apostles or were not trying to equal themselves with the twelve apostles. My question to you again is what do you know about their intentions? And how can you be sure? Don’t you think that Pastor Daniel and his pastor friends should be the one answering these questions?

You said that they are now serving the Lord according to the gifts they are given and therefore they should not be ridiculed (lishmuatetu ayigebachewum). That is absolutely true and no one deserves to be ridiculed much less our brothers and sisters. However, I do not see where they were ridiculed in brother Paulos’s article. Unless otherwise you are trying to suggest that since they serve the Lord for many years, they are immune to any sort of corrections.

What makes me sad is when this so called “yekeberu abatoch” ridiculed the Ethiopian church leaders and the believers for many years (in words and actions); no one said anything about it. When they divided churches abroad and appointed those who followed them no one said anything about it. When they punished those leaders who questioned their motives and had different ministerial ethics. And yet we all know that love and unity is the mark of our Christianity and still no one said anything about it. When they aggressively pursued every avenue that gave them the upper hand to control Ethiopian churches around the world and advanced their so called “prosperity and faith” theology, no one said anything about it. But now a new breed of young evangelicals has come out who began to question their motives and actions. Now the time has come for them (“abatoch”) to be held accountable while they are on earth. So shouldn’t you be happy for this “abatoch” to be given a chance before they answer to the one who saved and called them?
At last, I do not understand why we should pacify the “abatoch” (yeawaki atfi) while we are watching on our eyes that the very foundation of the church of God is being eroded by their irresponsible actions. My prayer is that this will bring them to their knees and examine their hearts. All of us really need to search our hearts and bow down to the one who died for our sin. Sooner or later we all are going to see Him face to face and answer for what we have done. There is no time for repentance at that time. God help us!

In His Love
Iyosias

Brother Tesfaye,

I like your sincerity and zeal. But both without knowledge can be detrimental to the body of Christ. Weren't the Pharesees zealous? Was not Saul of Tersus sincere in eliminating Christians before his Damascus Highway experience? I certainly believe you have knowledge but it was only enough to give such a confusing comment to to your readers. None of us is immune from such mistakes!

I appreciate also your speaking up. Many have retired to silent oblivion. They are so afraid of the consequences of their chatter. They seem to be led not by the Spirit by the saying, Zimita Worq naw. The latter is not an absolute truth like JESUS Christ is the ONLY way to salvation, final truth, eternal life. Many in the world and even in the "church" may resort to quarel because they perceive other ways too as being legitmate. How pathetic! The word of God, the Bible is absolute. It is not negotiable. It is not pragmatic. It is not relativity. It is therefore authoritative and conclussive in terms of morality. If we fail it does not mean, it is not absoulute. It is human to try to lower the standard. The Lord Jesus noted that when he said that the Lord saw the stubborness of the Israelites' heart in failing to fulfil Mosaic law and instituted marriage, etc. So, we are prone to lower His standard all the time. That is how fall in sin and loose doctrine. That is what theologians call liberalism. Waterring down the word to bare minmum so that all religions or denminations or groups would accept in pretext of Christian unity, love, tolerance, etc. Yours is essentially tolerance, like Minalebet, minalebet, minalebet. I think it is low view of God, the sugar daddy, and sin as a simple "mistake" or error. You know how terrible sin is in that it took the incarnation of the Son of man, His suffering for our sins and dying on the cursed cross to redeem you and me. His righteousness is imputed (trasposed, may be like photocopy?) to us. What a salvation!

No, you cannot minimize sin my dear brother. Then can you be quiet, as if you did know anything? No, not at all. Your Spirit with the word witnesses against your conscience. You know you needed to say something but it ended up doctrinally unsound. The Lord knows our limitation and He will forgive our inadequacies. None of us is adequate, even our brothers whom we love and respect. Moses said it. Jermaiah said it. St. Paul said it. So, what I am trying to say is let us just speak according to our knowledge only. Yimeslegnal and aymeslegm are not absolute answers. We do not want to mislead any one for punishment is great especially for teachers of the wordl So, if you feel you do not know much, just say what you know to be true. Then only is Zimet worq. naw.

All of our leaders including Pastor Daniel owe an apology to the Lord and to us His sheep. What they did is wrong involving primarily venerating the individual to a place of Deity, Christ in perfction, affording the position of ordination of Melkessedik, again tje Lord jesus Christ and many other deceptive expressions that grieve the Holy Spirit and the saints.

Now these errors are not as a result of an accident or choice of words or the lack thereof. as you claim. Covering wrong is double sin. These brothers have been out of line long time ago. Bur, no one dared to say a word to correct or challenge them, mainly for fear being osctracized or character assassination they have been employing on their fellow pastors and challenging church members in the Diaspora. Why? The economy, the enjera, power, fame, gain, etc. associated with their teaching and the lavish life style they chose to live. They know it, we know it and they know it that we know. So, they have to make sure that we are under their carpet. Some have assigned secret officers and informants on "unruly" members or targeted pastors. These are the pastors who frequently travel to Ethiopia for "ministry". Thank God, God in His grace is using them someway somehow.

So, what do we need to do? The remedy is to peak the truth in LOVE. Is this hurting them, yes but they need to be healed through the hurt. There is no short cut. Remeber David who was hurt and healed in a few occasions. So were the Children of Israel. God will use them mightily ever if they repent. They should seek forgiveness from the bothers and sisters they hurted. Brothers and sisters who were hurt should speak the truth to them and reason together. The Holy Spirit will minister to each one of us if we listen to Him in our prayers today.

I am not bitter for being broken; rather, I am better because my Lord applied His blood on my blister.

I believe this holy ground, Ethiocross.com will be blessed tremendously for its willingness to promote the cause of the Christ.

God bless you,my readers.

God Bless you Bro Tesfay!!!

Healthy, healing and balanced diet (words)!!!

I'm blessed!!! GBU!

Furthermore the way I learnt from the bible is there are 5 type of apostleship mentioned, in order.
1. Jesus (heb ch3:1)
2. The 12 apostle (Luke 9)
3. Other apostles in the time of the 12 apostles, 1corth15:7 (James half-brother of Jesus is called apostle and much more).
4. Gift of Holy Spirit to equip saints for 'the good work' Ephes 4:11.
5. life/living witnessing Christian, who received and spread God's Gospel. Rom1:5

in fact the word apostle is used in many non Christian ancient Greek writing too, most if not all the time to imply a Cargo ship to be loaded and sent away for some reciepant in certain destination. I'm sure in this case subject godly man wouldn't accept above/listed described 1 and 2, biblicaly it's done and dusted.
for list no 3,4 and 5 he is loaded well from/by the Grace of God. Which I myself was recipient of Holy Spirit gift.. forget the Cargo ship and get focused on message/sender, the owner knows him well... we are limited in knowledge, in fact I only know that 'I don't know ' but HE is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent... there for apart from praying for God mercy, Grace and wisdom for my brothers and sisters won't say much....
I totally agree with Tesfay and hope help someone somewhere to be encourage to study the Word of God in this matter. If it was the situation where I was involved and share responsibility, I would have name names and resolve to rebuke according to the revealed word of God, help, encourage, edifiy, strengthen..etc saints, but I would't share my wife's and children's issue in puplic, specially father's one.

Lij Daniel.

Lij Daniel:

Our Ethiopian curse of Ambiguity seems to get in our way of worship and spirituality. We often want to rationalize and explain away our sin and fault. This spirit of undue tolerance has commands a great deal of gripse of our spiritual life. We are not sincere but accommodative. Well, yetim fichiw duqetun amchiw. We look for the hidden meaning of 'semena worq qinay' (duality or multiplicity of meaning or expression) and unnecerarily waste time and energy. We create a guramaile (adultrated) way of Biblical interpertation, unnsecesary spiritualizing, allegorizing, diminsihing, acculturating, etc. instead of following the properly tried and tested traditions of hermeunitical (interpretation methods) prinicples. We seem to enjoy illusions than reality. I think that is pharisaic hypocracy against which the Lord against which the Lord warned his disciples, "Be on your guard against the yeast of the pharisees" (Luke 12:1)

Tesfaye's biblical understanding, description, interpretation and illusionary conclusion is no less a diversionary and misleading tact than the whole interview.

Now my friend Lij Daniel, you mentioned 5 types of apostles. Let us look into each one of them briefly.

1. Heb. 3:1
"Therefore holy brothers, who share the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess."
This is self-explanatory. Our Lord and Savior is the first apostle who was sent from heaven, incarnated (became human like us, Jn, 1:14) and taught and lived among us, suffered the wrath of God for us sin, hung on the cross of Calvary, died (not spiritually as some of our liberal brothers or pastors do believe) rose from the dead (not spiritually, as I had heard some of these brothers taught or used to teach), gone to heaven (not as liberals refute) and coming again (not as some of these brother's who espoused the Kingdom Now doctrine of the like late Paul Paulk, who beleived this world is all that there is; let us therefore live enjoy life here and now).

2. If you are referring to the Lord's apostles you will find that in 6: 13, 9:10, 11:49, 22:14 and 24:10.

3. Other apostles including James. 1Cor. 15:3-5. So, is Paul naming 500 and more apostles like himself and the earlier apostles of the Lord? Paul, in his humility says he is the least of the aposltes. Is he then saying he is least of these 12 or the 500 plus?

4. Gift of the Holy Spirit (?) in Eph. 4:10-12. These are not simple special talents or skills or abilities but men of offices engifted to the church's development to maturity. They are what we may call the "gifts of the captives" (7-9). These officers are to carry on the unfinished task the church is entrusted with, the Great Commission (Mt. 28:19-20 and Mk. 16:15). The believers' mandate as the body of Christ is to know Christ fully and make Him known to the lost world. That is growing to full maturity, to my incorporated understanding. All of these gifts are to be operational in the church today because we need them more so than ever. The Holy spirit calls these engifted men to be gifts to the church to equip the saints for His work of the gospel.

5.The Received apostleship (Rom1:5). The apostleship Paul is speaking of here is that of the mandate given to him and his posteriority. That is passing on the message of salvation through Christ. He puts 'grace and apostleship' as it has been availed to everyone. In other words all Chrisitans are apostles in the sense that they are messengers of the gospel. We are called to be apostles and saints (v1-7). So, this general apostleship is different from all else in that it is given to all believers in Jesus Christ through God's grace. We do not need special ordination or simet for such a position which is our right and responsiblity in Christ, to know him and make him known. All Christians should be witness of the gospel of salvation.

Now back to the point, which apostleship is accorded to Pastor Daniel in the simet, #1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Unless it is #2, what do you think are we arguing about, Brother Tesfaye? Are we writing a 'gedle' like 'gedle Mariam or gedle Tekle Haimanot'? What do you not think all these piles of words, fitsum, yeMelketesdek shumet, lack of Ethiopian national papas, all church leaders coming from all over the world to ordain as per request of a Canadian apostle, the request not coming from the subject himself or not even from the church he founded, etc.?

Apostleship mentioned in Eph. cannot mean any other than a missionary sent to preach the gospel or start church. If that the case the subject had been missionary ever since he went to Washington. He assisted Rev. Hamfrey start the Washington fellowship of Ethiopian Evangelical believers which now became a church led by Rev. Hamfrey. He is well achieved minister of the gospel like hundreds of others in the obscurity not publicity. We thank God who used him and we thank Daniel for being available and obedient during the Dirgue era. But, how about hundreds of faithful few who put thier life in the line and performed mighty miracles? Are we to name them apostles also? What about the young ministers the Lord is using now? Why do we have to make a big deal about being used of the Lord? Do we not often say, 'He even used a donkey'? Praise God my borther is not a donkey! He is now an apostle but which apostle? What next? who is next? as Paulos asked.

If the simet is for simple missionary call or commission, then we do not need all this commotion.
The logical conclusion is then the APOSTLESHIP like the Christ's apostles. That is nonexistent. So, an error has been commited and those leaders have to humble enough to recant their deeds and repent from their sin of putting temselves above the Word of God. What happens if they put themselves above the word of God, the Bible? We will have to believe their intuition more than the word of God. We will have to depend on their feelings: as I feel, as I see, as it seems to me, as I heard, as I ...etc. The Word of God is not the final authority anymore, like the Roman Catholic Church. We will have to consult them for every thing as our "apostles of today" or the prophets of the Old Testament to which they always want to return. The state of the Ethiopian Diaspora christendom is that of fear of the unknown. Some of these aposles/pastors have mistified the word of God and induced fear in the heart and life of the ordinary member of their church. They cannot ask questions petaining to the situation of the church they are members of. The pastors use 'curse' and 'blessing' to gain respect from their audience. They demonize serious Chrisitans or challenging servants of the Lord. How many of our most respected sincere servants of the Lord have resorted to flight to other churches? It is like the old Mengistu's time of distrust and suspecion among the believers.

Please, pastors, do not complicate Christ. He is simple and humble. Which Christ are you preaching today?

Repent and make simple life for yourself and the rest of us, the church of the Living God worldwide! God bless you!

We heared the same argument over and over again to pin point on Pastor Daniel.
Personally I don't know Pastor Daniel or I don't have any connection with him ,Thanks God for him being the Servant of God for decades, What makes me happy when i see many souls touched and the Name of God exalted through his ministry, and I thank God for all the servant and ministers of the Gospel like him, I see A group of finger pointers with full of hate mask and cover their hidden agenda ,What I am seeing behined The apostlic issue " to defened the church purity" fueled with pure Hate, and anger towards our brother.

I donot understand the name of Rev. Hanfre, came and mentioned by one commenter, Stop this evilish and chidish game, I thank God for Pastor Hanfre anointing in his life,If we down size or uplift our prefered minsters on this earth we can't change the mind of the true Judge in Heaven, Jesus knows the unseen,the un written life of everyone, he don't need any ones help, He knows!! He looks down on us now.

The church is under attack by the radicals and internal division,We are witnessing the last days signal and crises all over the world,unless we stand in one accored for common purpose we will waste our time,If we Hate our brother we close the door of Heaven on us. All of us lets repent eximne our self.

Joro Yalew Yisma,

Please, note that the issue here is doctrinal, not personal. I love and appreciate these and other brothers. If I hate them or any one, I would be hating God. How can I say I love God while hating my brother. "The commandment we have from Him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also". ( please, read 1Jn. 4). No born-again beleiver, Blood-bought, Spirit-filled believer would accuse another believer of sin unless he is absolutely sure of the trespass. As you said it is God who is the Supreme Judge. He sees the motive and action of the acused brother. The Holy Spirit would convict him of his sin and he should repent so God would forgive him. The way of the cross is full of fogiveness, how amny times a day? If you are falsely accusing me of hating my brother, the Lord stands for my defense and I am afraid you would lose the case. You will be allying with the prinicpal acuser of the brethren, Satan. It is not godly to acuse someone of something that you are not sure of. If you are sure you follow the guidelines given by our Savior in Mt. 18-22. No one in this forum has acused these brothers of any "sin" apart from trying to show them their doctrinal error.

I wish we had shown the error before they committed it as Brother Tesfaye said it in his article. We do not know their heart. We are not judging their motive but their covert deeds and their words in the beale simet, that of elevating themselves to Christ receiving the shumet of Melkessedik, being fitsum, etc. Both the king and the king makers are wrong. We know only Jesus to be our King. Some of the king makers, like our brother Tesfaye have spoken softly, Ene Endemeselegn. If you have the Spirit of God in you, of course you would stand against this error, not against the persons by all means.You should appreciate your brothers and sisters in this loop who work so hard to show you the error. Please, do not use words like radical, hate mask, finger pointers, hidden agenda, evilsh, childish game, downsize, internal division, etc. I could dwell on each of these words but to no avail.

Let me say this though. Was not our Lord radical and critical against the pharisees and saducees? Was not Paul radica and critical against the Judaisers? Was not Moses radical and critical against the Pharaoh? Was not Jeremaiah radical and critical against those who want him to preach agaist the Babylonian Exile? Were not the Pente's radical and critical against Satanic forces when they presented the gospel in the remotest parts of the country by the power of the Holy Spirit? Were not the Hebrew boys radical when they refused to worship the gods of the land? Were not Father Abrham, Daniel, Elijah, Aster, Nehemiah, etc. radical in their obedience? Weren't the 350 believers radical when they stood for faith and were led to prison in 1972 during Haile Selassie reign? Was not Tesfaye Gabisso radical when he refused to 'curse' the opponents of the Dirgue? How the 'gedle' of radical saints (Heb. 11) inspires me my brother! Would the gedle of the 'beaale simet' inspire me or any one 200 years from now. No, althogh I thank God for their service, I cannot in good conscience condone the move, a very dangerous one, doctrinally. I do not have any problem apprecating them for their labor and long service. But to elevate someone to Fitsum and accord him the position of Melketsedik is outrageous!

If we advocate for the purity of the church, is that bad? How come you do not defend the purity of the church yourself? We are all flesh and disappear sooner or later, but the Word of God, the Gospel, the Church, etc. will reamain. We have to be faithful to what we know, especially if the Lord has given you the opportunity to study His word; otherwise, God will hold us responsible. We cannot be quiet when the church or its church's doctrine or the gospel is being hijacked or adultrated. We are for the TRUTH! We don't have any enemy in flesh and blood. These are our beloved brothers. We love them that is why we will never allow them to go astray. It is love that compells us. It is not hate, for hate is satanic. Our loving power is in the Cross and the death and Reserruction of our Lord. His love is our banner!

Yes, my brother or my sister, Joro yalew Yisma. Amen. Also, libb yalew yastewul! May the Lord open the eyes of our heart (Eph. 1:15-16), not only our ears to hear.

Anger? yes, I am angry but it is a holy anger. Remeber, my Lord was not smiling when chased the merchants from the temple. How could Satan do this to my brothers? How could they not discern his crafty deception? How could they say what they said? I love and respect them with all their weaknesses, just like I am weak. Can they now continue their way as if nothing happened, like the camel walking away ignoring the barking dog (a saying I learned in this forum)? I hope not! They should not.

Yes, I REPENT before the Lord and His Church that I have been quiet. I was coward. I sought the erring brother's favor than fearing and obeying God. I had known the direction of the error but I kept quiet instead of refuting and uprooting it from the inception. I wronged them in that I did not alert them way back.... then. I am sorry. Lord have mercy. Forgive my cowardess, my failure, my ego, my pride and arrogance. Have mercy on my Father. Deliver me from my fear. In Jesus Name. Amen!

I would rather be judged here on earth than minimizing the cannot underestimate

"Unity in Diversity?!"

If I undestand the message of this article correctly, the author is telling us to "AGREE NOT DISAGREE" by promoting the earthly motto "Unity in Diversity". If that is the case, I respectfully REJECT this message.

As per my understanding, any Scriptural based practice should be deemed either RIGHT or WRONG. I don't think we have to create a middle-ground here; because it CANNOT be half-right and half-wrong. I simply characterize this kind of thinking as if saying "I'm half-sick and half-well" to a doctor! [However, as a footnote, I want to inject that there are some exceptional doctrinal issues like: doctrine of salvation (predestination vs. ?), end-times (escathology), fate of National Israel? why evil in the world? etc, on which we might have a healthy debate as Christians.]

Therefore, the question I have for the author of the above article is: "Do you say the 'Beale Simet' ceremony held in Addis Ababa is RIGHT or WRONG?" If you say it is RIGHT, fine! But base your conclusion with the right Scriptural passages. On the other hand, if you say it is WRONG, come out and [just like Brother Paulos Befekadu did in his article] boldly say it is wrong and prove it with Scriptural support. To me, the rest [like: interviewing, past quotations, church fathers, etc] is just house-cleaning "stuff".

If you want to know my opinion, I say the ceremony is WRONG because it is un-Scriptural. First and foremost, you don't find a single Scriptural passage in the entire Bible that would tell you to "Name" or "Appoint" or "Recognize" or "ETC" (or whatever you call it doesn't matter) a "person" as "An Apostle" based on "40+ years experience."

The fact is, just like Brother Paulos said in his articl: "you can do it because you can" or "you can do it because you are a promotor (or simply "tiffozzo") of the subject"; however, NOBODY has the power to change what is written in THE WORD OF GOD!

" And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail."[Luke 16:17 KJV]

God bless!

Greetings from Swiss!
Good to hear such conestractive and ballance article from our brother Tesfay.
Please continue your good till the endMuluwork.

Blessing to you Brother I care,
I Belive the Apostlic office is a gift of Jesus for todays church Eph 4:11-13
This is a free gift from above in early church and in our time,Jesus open this office to prepare his bride for his
wedding day. John3:29-30 Jesus is the bridegroom "He must become greater and I must become less and less".
We only worShip Jesus,Jesus is the head of the church and we are part of the body of christ?
WHICH PART OF THE BODY IS GREATER??
APOSTILE?,TEACHER?? ETC???
1Cor. 12 and 1Cor.13 the whole chapter.

we must answer this question?
Do we have Apotles today?
How we know them?
Is there a body to over see them??

Dear brother With division I will say again the church is under attack!
when we shoot each other we are attacking the body of Christ.
When I say,radical, I mean the attack we are seeing now all over the world by jihadist at the church of Jesus christ,
Personaly I am not labling or pointing at you in this direction,If there is a miss understanding I am sorry ,
Blessed for Ever.

To my dear "Joro" whom I would like to cll Libb:

Apostleship of Our Savior: Impossible to Duplcate.

Apostleship is one of the primary gifts of the Lord, Jesus Christ to His church. Although all spiritual gifts are given by Him to edify and grow His church, apostleship common the first position because of its nature.

An Apostle is means a messenger or one who is sent. The Son of God is the first Apostle sent by God to this world, having been conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, in a manger, grew up in Jewish tradition, preached the Kingdom of God, challenged the religious establishment, lived sinless life, did miracles, healed the sick, raised the dead, fed the hungry, transformed lives, falsely accused, sentenced and put death on the cross like the worst criminal, buried in a borrowed grave, physically raised from the dead, stayed a few days and commissioned His disciples and physically seen by ascending to heaven and promised to come back in the same manner.

I took the italicized phrases from the Apostles’ Creed, one of the oldest documents of the historic Christian faith (The Apostles’ Creed, an interpretation for today by Gardiner M. Day, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1963).

The Twelve Plus Paul: Can We Replicate?

The Twelve including Mathias (Acts 1) who was selected later and Paul, who joined the rank about 20 years later having seen and met Jesus as recounted in Acts 9, were the original apostles. They have special position in the coming kingdom of the Messiah. We will not be able to deal with these in this note.

Gifts of the Captivity: Trnscended!

The gift of apostles and apostleship are essential elements in the development of the individual believer’s life and the life of the church, which is the Body of Christ (1Cor. 12: 27-30, Eph. 4: 10-12). Paul stresses that these gifts are given for service of the common good (1Cor. 12:7) in the church like parts of our physical body. So a gifted apostle is just one part of the single body, the Body of Christ, the Church. In Eph. 4 he continues his doctrine of the unity of Body of Christ. He specifies the major gifts being men who are given to the Church to prepare (equip, teach, train or mentor) the saints or the believers for the work of service. These gifts are the result of Christ’s ascension (Eph. 4:7) “when He led captives in His train and gave gifts to men”. These officers are men who are called to special ministry of the gospel, as Paul was called as preacher to gentiles (Eph. 3 and 4: 1-3). I believe Paul is speaking of the special call to ministry, rather than the general call of every believer, although it seems difficult to differentiate the magnitude of the grace of God. This is the higher call of commitment and dedication of one’s life for the ministry of the gospel. The task of these gifted men demands full dedication to the church in order that the believers may be built up until they all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of Man and be come mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (13). Thus, unity by way maturity in Christ should be the goal of every believer. Who can help us to get there are these men of great gifts: apostles (pastor/missionaries/pioneers), prophets (pastor/ preachers or proclaimers with prophetic utterances), evangelists (pastor/witnesses of Christ’s salvation), pastors (shepherds who tend the flock and feed the word of God), and teachers (pastor/trainers of the saints). All of these offices are needed in the church today more so than ever, in light of the prevailing apostasy of the age.

Are they positions of appointment or recognition? If any of these ceremonies help promote the cause of the gospel, I think there is no biblical base not to perform. Paul encouraged Timothy to entrust the teaching he received to entrust to reliable men who are qualified to teach others (2Tim.2: 2). It implies that these men ought to be taught to be teachers of the word of God. Paul, having been trained by the Lord Himself, now commands Timothy whom he personally trained to train others. So, to qualify to teach, one has to acquire adequate training and be entrusted. How many of our teachers are qualified to teach the truth? Oh, how we despise biblical or theological training institutions! We often say the Holy Spirit is our teacher; Sure, He was Paul’s teacher too! Paul had had years of learning under Philosopher/lawyer Gamalial before his conversion. He went to isolation in Arabia to learn the word of God from the Holy Spirit. Luke was a medical doctor when he wrote the gospel and the book of Acts. God used the great learning of Martin Luther to transform the Roman Catholic Church. All of the early church fathers were educated leaders. Sadly, we abhor training and trained leaders. Lord, have mercy on us! If it takes years just to be an eye specialist or a dental doctor, how much more do we need to study the word of God and to treat our spiritual body? We misquote, ‘not by might nor by strength but by My Spirit’. But, His Spirit also indwells in the educated Christian Bible scholar or theologian who invested and dedicated his life to know God’s word. God does not hate knowledge? True knowledge makes you humble like the Savior himself(Mt. 11:28b).

A person who believes he/she has received a call from the Lord should refine the call in a seminary setting before stepping out as a minister, if at all possible. He/she should know the word of God before they start church ministry. They should be able to correctly divide the word of truth.

We should be careful not to confuse the position of elders and deacons with the minister of captivity call. Elders and deacons are also ministers or servants of Lord in their own right. Their service may overlap but their position is mainly administrative, more than spiritual (Act 6, 1Tim 3, Titus 1). The spiritual burden is mainly on those who have been called to ministry like the apostles who dedicated themselves for prayer and teaching the word. Thus, apostleship is now a shared responsibly of the believers, primarily those special men of the captivity gifts of the church (Eph. 4). To summarize my point here, I would say, let me say there are two offices in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, namely, apostolic and administrative. The apostolic office consists of gifted men such as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, which are all directly related to equipping the saints. Administrative ministry includes eldership and deaconate, which are largely physical in nature. Elders and deacons may assist in all spiritual services of the church but focus on their administrative and social duties so that the church would grow spiritually and organically. All saints are called to be Christ’s ambassadors and carry the message of the gospel to the lost world. However, they need to be trained by those gifts.

Are these spiritual gifts functional in the church today?

Yes, but they need to be identified or recognized earlier so that the church would assign them accordingly. In other words, discerning and accepting should precede their service. Commissioning them for service should follow suit, not commissioning first and recognition later. Is a certificate of recognition given for an accomplishment or assignment or a promotion?

By virtue of the fact that all believers are called saints, ambassadors, holy priesthood, etc., we are all apostles, pastors, evangelists, prophets, teachers, etc. Praise God. We are a new creation in Christ. There is no clergy and laity in Christ. We are ONE by His blood! But, remember what the Lord said in Jn. 21:15-18, the Lord pointed the distiction between the lamb and the sheep. Some of are so young and immature and others mature enough and still others are extremely mature. But, we are His children. Some of us are immature even after following or serving the Lord for decades. It takes humility like a child to grow to maturity. We are old enough but still acting like children.

To answer your question, how we know someone is called to be apostle or missionary? The church should discern,watch and pray before commissioning someone to his/call. When the pereson senses a call prompted by the Holy Spirit, one should take a serious time of prayer before he/she shares it with his/her minister. The Lord calls the person and the church agrees and affirms the call before the person begins ministry. There are lot of preparatory work to be done, particularly training. I would not like to go deep here lest I say too much.

Is there a body to oversee them? That is a critical question. Thank you, my brother/sister.

We find bilical models where the apostles oversaw the work of individuals. Paul had his missionary legion. barnabas had his team. Remember, even the Lord sent the disciples in pairs or teams. Progressively, the church got organized almost in the model of the Jewish Synagogue, such that we have a lot of similarity with it. I do not want to ramble here and give you shoddy answer. But, in short we all have to have our Pauls and our Timothys. Many a pastor today does do not have Timothy. The church should establish that as a principle of urgency. So, essentially, the church should oversee them. By a church, I do not mean an informal,casual uncommitted fellowships of beleivers. I believers who invoke the presence of God by their commitment and covenant to break the bread (the word), fellowship (sharing their life) and propagating the gospel (witnessing). Such a commited group should have a leader who is well equip to train and guide others, call him a pastor, prophet, teacher, evangelist, apostle. Submiting to authority of the biblical church is the key, not to a group of dissents or assocations or guilds that are formed against another group or brother or sister. Aboveall, the Holy Spirit is trustworthy and will lead him or her to the right person, just like Paul was led to Ananaias.

If we are still talking about the beale simet, I have taken a stand that it is an essential ERROR for which the brethren must repent. I denounce the apostleship that deifies a person and defies the authority of the Word of God. I reject it because I know my brother who is named apostle is not perect and I deny him the position of my Lord, Jesus Christ of Nazareth who was depicted as Melkessedik. His position cannot be replicated or duplicated or dethroned. halelujah! Be it known in the courts Heaven and Earth. I give my life to this!

Marantha, Come Lord Jesus!

Dear Joro Yalew,
There is no replacement for the position of our precious Lord and Savior. He is a priest extraordinaire! Take a look what the Word has to say, “And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. For it is declared: You are a priest forever, In the order of Melchizedek. … and it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath, but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him: The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: you are a priest forever.” (Heb 7:15-17; 20-21).

I, like my brothers, denounce any attempt to share or usurp the authority and deity of the Holy Son of God, the guarantee of the better covenant-the one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners and exalted above the heavens. If we do not denounce what had happened during the “beale simet” (when we were told that the pastor received the apostleship in the order of Melchizedek), then we may not be able denounce anything any more. God never shares His glory with anyone. Jesus Christ alone is perfect and the High priest of His people in the order of Melchizedek. Any attempt to undermine His priestly authority and function should be dealt decisively by the Church of Jesus Christ. As my dear brother SFW has put it, Jesus’ position can not replicated or duplicated, and let it be known in the courts Heaven and Earth we give our lives to this! Amen.


In His Love,
Iyosias

My brother Joro Yalew,

Thank you for your comments. I totally agree with SFW and Iyosias any many others of their genre.

From your tone I gather that you have a reconciliatory spirit like Tesfay and the rest of us. That is wonderful. But, you have to understand that the church is being attacked from inside by her own children who unwittingly destroy her very foundation, Jesus Christ, the Word of God and the King of Kings. I do not think this was intentional but it is a destructive heresy. But, given their behavior among the Diaspora believers, one cannot help questioning their motive. As Christians we are not judge their motive which we do not know. Ours is to conside each one better than us! Thus, we can always assume the best but we have to guard the Church by exposing the truth. Do you not think God is going to hold you responible, if you are silent about this? Over our dead body! Martin Luther King said, "Our lives began to end when we stopped speaking up for the things that matter". What else can matter more than this issue for the church now? We are not fighting against flesh and blood, our dear borthers. We are fighting against Satan who can twist and turn minds and hearts against the word of God, the foundation of the very Prophets and Apostles. The outcome of beale simet is heresy. If you do not see this, I admonish you to study the word of God seriously, concerning this issue. As for our erring brothers, they should repent and renounce their action and position. Humility is Christ-like. If they do not this will go in history as a divisive heresy.

To my friend from AmenMedia,

This issue may not be solved by simply interviewing the concerned 'fathers'. I think the more you ask questions (I am afraid may be "irrelevant questions", Rev. Dr. Asseffa Duguma), the more confusing the answer can get. It can provoke anger and unnecessay diversions. I believe the Fellowship of Evangelical Churches should call a council of the national and the Diaspora church leaders, theologians and Bible scholars to resolve the issue. This involves earnest prayer, serious study and the Holy Spirit's guidance. Let us pray for unity and clarity of visions for our leaders.

Mind you, we love our "fathers". There has come a time that we have to stand for the truth in the interest of the message of the cross for generations to come. May these words of my heart be registered in Heaven!

Thank Iyosias for your kind comments. Your are one the faithful few in times like this. God knows your heart and mine. These days have been evil but God is forever good. He may ask us sometimes to stand alone with the truth. Did not our Lord stand on the Cross between the hosts of heaven, hell and earth alone?

God bless.

GOD BLESS U Bro. Tesfaye,

I agree in your comments ,Please let's respect each other, if u are brunch of christ JESUS.We are one in christ JESUS! love you LORD JESUS. enedmewdehe LORD JESUS taweqalhe

may god help us all to do what is plesant in the sight of God
God blessyou